CTV hijacks SuperBowl [MRG]

[Rhettzky]

I'd like to be able to watch the commercials. They are just another part of the big spectacle. The game is awesome, the half time show is great and the commercials would just add to that to me. It's not "a big deal" but would be cool to have.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by jaydorn

That's actually my biggest beef with Nickelback, they are a marginally talented band with some "OK" songs. But they milked the cancon rules within an inch of it's life and got a huge payout as a result.

But having said that, I'll agree with your first assessment that "One could argue that Cancon on the radio has been a success" if you take Nickelback out of the equation, bands like Arcade Fire, The New Pornographers and heck anything played in CBC Radio 3 (internet I know) has really given us a great crop of homegrown artist, and yes cancon probably gave a lot of them a leg up when it came to radio play.

Regardless, the CRTC needs a major overhall, "preserving nationality" has in practice become "preserving monopolies" for Canadian tech companies (rogers, bell, I'm looking at you).

CANCON has not helped Canadian indie bands at all on commercial radio. They continue to play the same stable of classic Canadian bands over and over. CBC 3 has a different mandate, and probably not a very big audience. The successful Canadian indie bands made it on their own merit.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by troutman

CANCON has not helped Canadian indie bands at all on commercial radio. They continue to play the same stable of classic Canadian bands over and over. CBC 3 has a different mandate, and probably not a very big audience. The successful Canadian indie bands made it on their own merit.

I'd disagree that it hasn't helped "at all", at the very least it's given commercial "alternative" stations a viable reason to tuck acts like Tokyo Police Club/Metric/Mother Mother in between The Killers & Red Hot Chili Peppers during the day.

Was it the deciding factor? No absolutely not, but it holds some weight. Having said all that I don't agree with the CANCON laws and god help us if they ever get their greasy mits on what we can publish on the internet.

[Trey Wingbat]

C = Communist
R = Run
T = Television in
C = Canada

[4X4]

Originally Posted by troutman

CANCON has not helped Canadian indie bands at all on commercial radio. They continue to play the same stable of classic Canadian bands over and over. CBC 3 has a different mandate, and probably not a very big audience. The successful Canadian indie bands made it on their own merit.

Just turn on CJAY and you'll hear Ocean mother******* Pearl within the hour.

[SportsJunky]

I don't want to rehash this whole thing again but Deadspin had a good column that was mostly about the Canadian commercials. A couple of good sim-sub points were made at the end.

And if keeping the ads from us wasn't bad enough, Canadian networks always find new ways to botch the sim-sub process: cutting to the action late; shoe-horning their own graphics into broadcasts; dropping the HD feed; and generally making a high-school A.V. club hash of the entire production.
After last year's game, CTV memorably cut to one of its studio sports anchors, Jay Onrait, just as Roger Goodell passed the Lombardi trophy to Packer executives. Onrait looked like nothing so much as Canada's most disappointed father. The moment was perfect in its imperfection. I'd like to think that, in that instant, Onrait's death stare was the death stare of every Super Bowl viewer above the 49th parallel.

http://deadspin.com/5882951/was-that...super-bowl-ads

[troutman]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Just turn on CJAY and you'll hear Ocean mother******* Pearl within the hour.

Or Jack is guaranteed to play something from the unholy alliance of Platinum/Tiger/Honeymoon/Ghost.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by troutman

Or Jack is guaranteed to play something from the unholy alliance of Platinum/Tiger/Honeymoon/Ghost.

How dare you...

[chemgear]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bell...-ads-1.2978568

Bell will appeal a CRTC ruling that would force Canadian television networks to stop switching out American ads during the Super Bowl in favour of Canadian ones.

In its decision Jan. 29, the CRTC said that while Canadians have long complained about simsub, the practice is important for Canadian broadcasters, because they can use the ad revenue to pay for broadcasting rights to popular U.S. programs.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by chemgear

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bell...-ads-1.2978568

Bell will appeal a CRTC ruling that would force Canadian television networks to stop switching out American ads during the Super Bowl in favour of Canadian ones.

In its decision Jan. 29, the CRTC said that while Canadians have long complained about simsub, the practice is important for Canadian broadcasters, because they can use the ad revenue to pay for broadcasting rights to popular U.S. programs.

What? The CRTC ruled against simsubbing, then said how important the practice is? That article makes no sense

[Weitz]

Just when you subscribe to american channels I think. People complain because they subscribe to the american channel and CTV simsubs the commercials.

[Jimmy Stang]

So if they can't have exclusivity for ads, what's the incentive for CTV to bid on Superbowl rights now? Doesn't this effectively make the Canadian rights to the Superbowl nearly worthless?

I'm not a fan of Bell by any stretch, but there's really no reason to carry the game if all of your viewers are just going to watch the other channel's ads.

[Weitz]

That's an argument, but the other side of the coin is if I am paying to subscribe to an american channel why can't I have the american commercials? It's not like CTV is gettign any money.

If there is a way (not sure there is) to subscribe to CBS and FOX and what not without having CTV, you are getting CTV's commercials on a channel you are not paying CTV for.

This of course is my understanding based on the fact that CTV can still simsub the commercials on their channels.

[ken0042]

The most compelling argument is that for the SuperBowl the commercials are a major part of the show. That can be proven by how much time the local Calgary newscasts spend talking about the commercials the morning after the game. I was actually going to test this out this year; make note of how much time they spent talking about the commercials vs how much time they spent talking about the football game. Then the announcement came out and the point seemed moot.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by Weitz

That's an argument, but the other side of the coin is if I am paying to subscribe to an american channel why can't I have the american commercials? It's not like CTV is gettign any money.

If there is a way (not sure there is) to subscribe to CBS and FOX and what not without having CTV, you are getting CTV's commercials on a channel you are not paying CTV for.

This of course is my understanding based on the fact that CTV can still simsub the commercials on their channels.

As I understand it, it isn't an issue of what channel it is being broadcast on, but who owns the broadcast rights for a particular country. CTV owns the rights in Canada, and someone else owns it in the US. If you're watching in Canada, CTV has bought the rights for your eyeballs to watch their ads, regardless of what channel it is on. You might be watching it on Fox or whatever channel, but Fox doesn't have the rights for that program in Canada - CTV does. Rather than blacking out Fox, the CRTC lets the Canadian rightsholder put their ads on simultaneously.

The NFL obviously sells the rights to different broadcasters all around the world. Canada is probably unique that we get the same content on Canadian channels and US channels at the same time, whereas other countries don't get US channels beamed directly into their living rooms as we do.

But I can see why Bell would be upset because they've bought the broadcast rights with the intention of running ads against it. They can't be expected to pay top dollar for the rights when they can't sell advertising against it to recoup the costs.

[Jimmy Stang]

Furthermore, Bell has already paid for the rights for a particular term. So the CRTC changing this mid-term really screws them over. And while I don't mind seeing Bell screwed over, I can definitely see why they're appealing it.

[Joborule]

The grouns for appeal makes sense, but I for my selfish sake, I hope it's overruled so then I can get the native feeds from the american channels. It's not even about the commercials, as it's moreso of Bell possibly screwing up when switching from/back to the feed before/after commercials.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Joborule

The grouns for appeal makes sense, but I for my selfish sake, I hope it's overruled so then I can get the native feeds from the american channels. It's not even about the commercials, as it's moreso of Bell possibly screwing up when switching from/back to the feed before/after commercials.

Which they did screw up in the playoffs a couple years ago. Team attempted a gadget play and CTV hadn't come back from commercial yet.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

What? The CRTC ruled against simsubbing, then said how important the practice is? That article makes no sense

Sim-subbing hasn't changed, the only change is to the Superbowl potentially being exempt. It (simsub) remains vital to Canadian broadcasters, as generates large $ of revenues.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see US commercials again, but I can't see how this appeal doesn't go through. They (CTV) bought the rights under the economic assumption of getting the simsub revenues. How you could give an exemption to one broadcast when the broadcaster disagrees is beyond me.

[puffnstuff]

I dont care about seeing the US commercials, I just want them to quit trying to squeeze extra ads into every game they simsub and then missing actual game coverage. They are hugely bad at it.

Oh and they should also have to follow the NFLs home team area coverage rules. If I am watching a channel from Seattles or Detroits home area coverage and an early game goes late they should have to go to the proper coverage for that area.